Welcome to the ASUS Padfone Forum

We would like to welcome everyone to the latest addition of TransformerForums.com dedicated to the upcoming ASUS Padfone! With all of the interest expressed from the community in this new device, we felt it would be a great addition to the forum.

Feel free to send me a free unit for testing :-) There's a recap posted on Tweakers.net (Dutch though) with some interesting tidbits for those interested and who can understand Dutch).

The gist of the recap, is that they were quite enthusiastic, but with two caveats: the actual tablet part is potentially likely to be a bit "heavy" in comparison to competing units at the planned time of release, and the tablet part does come across heavily as an accessory element (as the phone itself carries the primary focus in the user experience and is very well done) so it would be served by being priced accordingly - perhaps preferably seperately (again, accessory concept applies - though I fully understand that is probably not in line with the origin of design for the unit .. but .. the user experience and perspective is what determines sales after all).

I'm looking quite forward to it. The concept of being able to combine the concepts of phone and tablet, especially since the Asus concept provides for more than simple content feeding and has decent practical room for content creation as well) is something that would suit me personally very well. To be blunt, I can think of quite a few scenarios in various enterprises where this applies as well. But again, there I do recognise that the tablet part would be considered "accessory".

The pen / styles part, hilarious I cannot help but comment :P One thing I would be curious for, is whether there were some way to disable the usage of that for audio / calls. I can see it work, by all means, but most people use bluetooth headsets. A way to determine in settings to prioritise what to use if connected, would be a good thing to consider.

If it is not too late, that pen / stylus element would benefit greatly from another type of use. Imagine for a moment that it could record audio, transfer to tablet. Or imagine that it could scan text and transfer to tablet. Or read QR code, barcodes, etc. Now there's a potential for practical use, far beyond the gadget factor without negating that. Though I can imagine that at this stage, it is too late to consider this.

Anyway, looking quite forward to it. Depending on price, I'm game. Keep in mind there, I'm a business user and while I can see many solid scenarios of use there, that is not a sector where the gadget factor is what makes the sale above price points (I often wish it did, but welcome to business :P).

I'm in. Just for the fact that Asus is the first one to release this idea.

Heh, at the risk of getting shot ... once upon a long time ago, I was present at a private demonstration of the results of a prototyping round of a fruity company where one of the ideas that floated around was the madness of trying to combine a (at that time hugely overweight) notebook with a detachable (equally overweight) phone. It was a ridiculous concept at the time really. Mostly though because the age of mobile phones or even mobility had not been contemplated yet :P

That being said, personally I love the concept. I can see how it would work for me. And finally we're at a stage where it makes sense, and is feasible. Even practical.

I like the concept as well. but I understand that the pad can not be operated without being docked to the phone and if correct that's a deal breaker for me

Yes I believe you are correct since all the guts for the tablet except for the battery are inside the phone. I don't have a problem with that because I'm not a big phone person and my phone would be on my screen.

I think this is a great marketing move by Asus. For a lot of individuals who are looking to have both a new cellphone and a tab but can only choose one, this really bridges it together and will likely give an amazing experience as well.

It might be a hard buy at first, but I can definitely see it having its place among consumers.

I'm really liking the way it's looking. I actually kind of want it just for the phone. The only thing I"m concerned about is the battery life of the phone sans the tablet. It's got a small capacity. I wonder what the effective life of it would be? If it's no worse than my Droid X, I think I may have found my next phone.